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| Mosznski, Ameia, Rocker and Broadbent in a laidback acoustic jam |
It was a drenched mess of armpit stains and dripping foreheads at the Benevolent Irish Society one hot summer night when Charlottetown's new hip hop band Dead Airwaves took the stage. “I was lucky there were no close ups because we just would have looked like Aquaman,” vocalist Eric Broadbent said.
“The summer was a sweaty mess. JP was the sweatiest and the messiest.” Broadbent added, speaking of drummer JP Moszynski. “I'd have to wear my swim shorts to jams,” Moszynski joked.
Broadbent won urban recording of the year at the 2006 PEI music awards for his solo album, He Wears his Emotions on his Sleeve. He wanted to do something different so he formed Dead Airwaves in March 2007. Dead Airwaves consists of Broadbent as lead vocalist, Mike Amelia on guitar and back up vocals, Moszynski on drums and Behn Rocker on bass.
Their sound is a fusion of hip hop and pop/punk, comparable to Rage Against the Machine. Broadbent's wit and sarcasm is clear in his lyrics. He often presents political and societal themes using satire. “The lyrics are defiantly at the forefront,” Amelia said. Even before he was in the band, Rocker was drawn to the lyrics, he said. “I was really liking how his lyrics were telling the stories.”
Broadbent was nominated for an ECMA in 2006, where he performed for the Hip Hop showcase. He has been involved in many collaborations and groups including Communikozi with J.Kun, The Trip with Tech Thai, and the Creeps with John the Baptist 666 and Bob Bell. Broadbent's song “pop star rehab” was nominated for an ECMA for urban single of the year in 2007.
Mike Amelia, who took the Recording Arts program at Nova Scotia Community College, mixed and mastered the band's ep, released at the end of August. “Mike's totally our engineer. Minus actually hitting the strings and yelling into the microphone and hitting the drums, Mike did everything,” Broadbent said.
Drummer JP Moszynski, a fourth year physics major at UPEI, is a long time friend of Amelia's. When Broadbent and Amelia started playing together and decided to form a band, the soft-spoken Moszyski was their choice for drummer.
Bassist Behn Rocker replaced John Putnam who left for school in September. Rocker spent September jamming with the band and learning their 18 songs. Rocker, who had a brief stint in metal band Ares Reign, started out as a fan of Dead Airwaves. “He was one of the rowdy fans. Dream come true,” Amelia joked.
The band is accumulating a following of boisterous and dedicated fans. “These guys have like 15 or 20 of their homies at all the shows,” Broadbent said.
“Our friends are loud and rowdy,” Moszynski added. “These people go out to shows every night” Amelia said.
Fans should expect to see Dead Airwaves back in action this month.
Jaclyn Killins is a second-year journalism student at Holland College. We welcome her to the Buzz roster. —Editor
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